I’m currently playing a changeling warlock disguised as a half elf, and my party doesn’t know. There’re all new players, so I’m not sure if they’ll metagame. I barely convinced my dm to let me use this the race, and he said the character had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature. To be clear: the dm knows but the players and their characters don’t. So, should I tell them?
Personally, this doesn't seem to be a PvP (player v player) situation, so there's little reason to worry. The major concern with secrets is if they can end up putting you against the other players, which is never something you should do without prior consent. That can wreck people's experiences and shouldn't be brought about unilaterally. If such a situation starts forming, I'd consider, out of game, letting players know and finding out if they're fine with it - and if not, finding an alternative path forward.
Obviously, I don't know the circumstances. However, if the effect of this character detail is just a detail - you're not infiltrating the party or otherwise setting up a confrontation - then it's probably fine to just reveal it at an appropriate part of the story like you would any other development of the story.
The disadvantage of not revealing it is that you won't have help keeping up the pretense. If you make a mistake and the players realise what's happening...the game is up. If they know, they'll know to turn a blind eye until a cool time to make the reveal happens. Another issue is if you need to have game time to deal with your story, that's not going to be practical with the party being there, which then presents new problems.
As long as it's not going to cause PvP, it's your judgment as to what's best, a cool reveal that the players get surprised by, or their help in developing the story. If it could lead to PvP, you need to be sure that the other players are happy with that, which may require revealing the nature of the potential confrontation and therefore your secret.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Personally, I prefer it when players keep things like this secret from the party - reveals are more fun when they are at both the character and the player level.
That said, while hiding one’s species can work really well for a Yuan-to Pureblood, it is going to be really hard with a Changeling. As a species, the only really major thing going for them is their shape changing ability—your fellow players might put it together fairly quickly. That isn’t insurmountable - there are disguise spells or hats of disguise and you can always phrase your action in a way that hides the truth (“I touch my hat and my face changes”)—but a clever player should see through that in a session or so.
Communicate with the DM. No secrets kept from the DM. If the DM says it's okay to hide it, do it if you want to do it. If the DM expresses concerns, talk it out with the DM to come to a conclusion for what's best with the campaign.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I’m currently playing a changeling warlock disguised as a half elf, and my party doesn’t know. There’re all new players, so I’m not sure if they’ll metagame. I barely convinced my dm to let me use this the race, and he said the character had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature. To be clear: the dm knows but the players and their characters don’t. So, should I tell them?
Why? Also just...sigh this is such a tired thing ppl do the surprise race change that really doesn't surprise anyone when revealed. Mostly an "oh ok... neat'
This just needs to go away, it's up there with the half celestial half demon edgey characters
Quick true story: A player and a DM came to an agreement that the player would be replaced by a fey shapeshifting creature (only if the private combat session worked out that way). The player continued to play the replaced character with the DM's cooperation, but the player would be fully responsible for keeping the secret.
There were opportunities that created subtle hints that the other players all missed in the moment. He was the only one who refused a silvered weapon in favor of something less useful for what the party thought they were going to face. His sabotage was very, very subtle and not game-ending. He "accidentally" started a fire that got out of control... destroying helpful but non-critical evidence before anyone else could find it—evidence that would raise suspicion against him.
The DM did not give him a hall-pass on his story, which was as they agreed.
It was facing the BBEG when he was revealed, but everything was scaled so that the battle was tough but not insurmountable with the unexpected PvP. Note: The players had already agreed that they could mess with each other through contested means and knew that they would encounter the unexpected (as they had throughout the short campaign).
The reveal led to a whole lot of looking back on everything in a different light to pinpoint exactly when the change happened and how everyone missed the many clues since.
Done right, it has a great effect even as an old trope. But... it requires DM knowledge. Never keep secrets from the DM about your character.
Don't "conspire" with the DM against the other players. If you're going to do it, don't make the DM do it for you. You're playing the game, too, and shouldn't get DM protection for your character. If anything, requesting to keep such secrets from the party should be agreeing to more difficulties for your character as shown above.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Why? To what end was the game improved with the DM even approving this kind of subterfuge? Who in the end had a better game experience? D&D is not a soap opera.
If you don't enjoy that, that's fine. Never tell another table how they should be playing D&D, though. Never assume what you want from D&D is what everyone else must want.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
You did not answer my question. What benefit was gained by this? Who had a better game experience, and in what way?
The answer is in the reply. You did not see it. I cannot provide you an answer you want because you already claimed that what they got you don't think belongs in D&D.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I’m currently playing a changeling warlock disguised as a half elf, and my party doesn’t know. There’re all new players, so I’m not sure if they’ll metagame. I barely convinced my dm to let me use this the race, and he said the character had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature. To be clear: the dm knows but the players and their characters don’t. So, should I tell them?
You have not explained WHY you are doing this. What is the purpose, in game and out of game?
The OP does establish why the player wants to do this - it just requires a little bit of critical reading to derive. Specifically, the DM instructed the player that their character “had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature.”
From that, one can easily surmise the reason behind their character’s reluctance to be out in the open - there is some reason their character wants to hide their nature and that hiding of their nature leads them to be rather closed off and untrusting. The actual reason is irrelevant - though the common trope with changelings is that they’re feared because of their abilities and thus don’t feel they’ll fit into society - all that matters is they have a character with trust issues which stem from their species.
That is a perfectly fine story to tell, and one that can be well served with maintaining secrecy. Ideally, that kind of reveal would be one with some emotional weight - the feeling of fellowship when you open up to the other characters, some kind of stressful situation forcing your hand resulting in the character revealing something they’re ashamed of, etc. Those are the exact moments where keeping secrets from the other players have their most impact—then the emotional element hits at the player level, instead of just the character level, which, in turn, allows the players to draw on those emotions and create more realistic character reactions.
Quick true story: A player and a DM came to an agreement that the player would be replaced by a fey shapeshifting creature (only if the private combat session worked out that way). The player continued to play the replaced character with the DM's cooperation, but the player would be fully responsible for keeping the secret.
There were opportunities that created subtle hints that the other players all missed in the moment. He was the only one who refused a silvered weapon in favor of something less useful for what the party thought they were going to face. His sabotage was very, very subtle and not game-ending. He "accidentally" started a fire that got out of control... destroying helpful but non-critical evidence before anyone else could find it—evidence that would raise suspicion against him.
The DM did not give him a hall-pass on his story, which was as they agreed.
It was facing the BBEG when he was revealed, but everything was scaled so that the battle was tough but not insurmountable with the unexpected PvP. Note: The players had already agreed that they could mess with each other through contested means and knew that they would encounter the unexpected (as they had throughout the short campaign).
The reveal led to a whole lot of looking back on everything in a different light to pinpoint exactly when the change happened and how everyone missed the many clues since.
Done right, it has a great effect even as an old trope. But... it requires DM knowledge. Never keep secrets from the DM about your character.
Don't "conspire" with the DM against the other players. If you're going to do it, don't make the DM do it for you. You're playing the game, too, and shouldn't get DM protection for your character. If anything, requesting to keep such secrets from the party should be agreeing to more difficulties for your character as shown above.
Why? To what end was the game improved with the DM even approving this kind of subterfuge? Who in the end had a better game experience? D&D is not a soap opera.
Having read it, I’d say, it was fun for everyone involved. What other reason could they need?
Why? To what end was the game improved with the DM even approving this kind of subterfuge? Who in the end had a better game experience? D&D is not a soap opera.
Having read it, I’d say, it was fun for everyone involved. What other reason could they need?
Yeah, as someone who both DMed and played with secret changelings, it was fun both times?
Game improved: added extra plotlines, added mystery ("Why does [changeling PC] know so much about [NPC]"), NPC's in the know were able to blackmail [changling PC] leading to interesting developments
Who had a better experience: the Player obviously. They got to play how they want, and had to do a lot of improv to keep up the lie (which they enjoyed doing). The DM (in one case, me) had a lot to work with involving twists and challenges for them to keep up their disguise. Other players were shocked when they slowly put the pieces together. Even though this happened twice with the same group, it was still a surprise since each changeling PC played their role differently.
Dnd is not a soap opera: firstly, says who? you? it could be, why not? Second, characters having secrets is hardly new, or hardly "soapy"
It's up to you, personally i wouldn't tell the other players you are not a half-elf but a changeling until their characters find out eventually, if ever. Depending on the reasons for his cover, he might never reveal it too.
If a player asked me about this I would be asking the blunt question.
Me: What's your plan for when the secret is out? Player: What do you mean? Me: What's your plan for when half a dozen of your friends all look at you and go, "You've been lying to us this whole time?"
I've seen this end a friendship. One player kept a secret (admitedly a pretty big one, involving betrayal and failure of a quest) and another player instantly ended the friendship because they'd been lied to.
Personally, I don't think there should be secrets between players. Betweek characters, sure, but not players. As a group of players we should be conspiring against our characters. :-)
To be honest, if you're going to end a friendship over someone misleading you as to what race they're playing in D&D...then that friendship was in seriously dire straits long before that campaign started and wasn't going to go anywhere good regardless.
So long as PvP is avoided (or consent for it acquired), then most rational parties will be fine with it being kept secret. It's just a matter of what you feel would be most beneficial.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
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I’m currently playing a changeling warlock disguised as a half elf, and my party doesn’t know. There’re all new players, so I’m not sure if they’ll metagame. I barely convinced my dm to let me use this the race, and he said the character had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature. To be clear: the dm knows but the players and their characters don’t. So, should I tell them?
It's up to you.
Personally, this doesn't seem to be a PvP (player v player) situation, so there's little reason to worry. The major concern with secrets is if they can end up putting you against the other players, which is never something you should do without prior consent. That can wreck people's experiences and shouldn't be brought about unilaterally. If such a situation starts forming, I'd consider, out of game, letting players know and finding out if they're fine with it - and if not, finding an alternative path forward.
Obviously, I don't know the circumstances. However, if the effect of this character detail is just a detail - you're not infiltrating the party or otherwise setting up a confrontation - then it's probably fine to just reveal it at an appropriate part of the story like you would any other development of the story.
The disadvantage of not revealing it is that you won't have help keeping up the pretense. If you make a mistake and the players realise what's happening...the game is up. If they know, they'll know to turn a blind eye until a cool time to make the reveal happens. Another issue is if you need to have game time to deal with your story, that's not going to be practical with the party being there, which then presents new problems.
As long as it's not going to cause PvP, it's your judgment as to what's best, a cool reveal that the players get surprised by, or their help in developing the story. If it could lead to PvP, you need to be sure that the other players are happy with that, which may require revealing the nature of the potential confrontation and therefore your secret.
Just some things to chew on.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Personally, I prefer it when players keep things like this secret from the party - reveals are more fun when they are at both the character and the player level.
That said, while hiding one’s species can work really well for a Yuan-to Pureblood, it is going to be really hard with a Changeling. As a species, the only really major thing going for them is their shape changing ability—your fellow players might put it together fairly quickly. That isn’t insurmountable - there are disguise spells or hats of disguise and you can always phrase your action in a way that hides the truth (“I touch my hat and my face changes”)—but a clever player should see through that in a session or so.
Communicate with the DM. No secrets kept from the DM. If the DM says it's okay to hide it, do it if you want to do it. If the DM expresses concerns, talk it out with the DM to come to a conclusion for what's best with the campaign.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Why? Also just...sigh this is such a tired thing ppl do the surprise race change that really doesn't surprise anyone when revealed. Mostly an "oh ok... neat'
This just needs to go away, it's up there with the half celestial half demon edgey characters
Quick true story: A player and a DM came to an agreement that the player would be replaced by a fey shapeshifting creature (only if the private combat session worked out that way). The player continued to play the replaced character with the DM's cooperation, but the player would be fully responsible for keeping the secret.
There were opportunities that created subtle hints that the other players all missed in the moment. He was the only one who refused a silvered weapon in favor of something less useful for what the party thought they were going to face. His sabotage was very, very subtle and not game-ending. He "accidentally" started a fire that got out of control... destroying helpful but non-critical evidence before anyone else could find it—evidence that would raise suspicion against him.
The DM did not give him a hall-pass on his story, which was as they agreed.
It was facing the BBEG when he was revealed, but everything was scaled so that the battle was tough but not insurmountable with the unexpected PvP. Note: The players had already agreed that they could mess with each other through contested means and knew that they would encounter the unexpected (as they had throughout the short campaign).
The reveal led to a whole lot of looking back on everything in a different light to pinpoint exactly when the change happened and how everyone missed the many clues since.
Done right, it has a great effect even as an old trope. But... it requires DM knowledge. Never keep secrets from the DM about your character.
Don't "conspire" with the DM against the other players. If you're going to do it, don't make the DM do it for you. You're playing the game, too, and shouldn't get DM protection for your character. If anything, requesting to keep such secrets from the party should be agreeing to more difficulties for your character as shown above.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
If you don't enjoy that, that's fine. Never tell another table how they should be playing D&D, though. Never assume what you want from D&D is what everyone else must want.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
The answer is in the reply. You did not see it. I cannot provide you an answer you want because you already claimed that what they got you don't think belongs in D&D.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
The OP does establish why the player wants to do this - it just requires a little bit of critical reading to derive. Specifically, the DM instructed the player that their character “had to grow emotionally in the campaign, learning to trust others with their nature.”
From that, one can easily surmise the reason behind their character’s reluctance to be out in the open - there is some reason their character wants to hide their nature and that hiding of their nature leads them to be rather closed off and untrusting. The actual reason is irrelevant - though the common trope with changelings is that they’re feared because of their abilities and thus don’t feel they’ll fit into society - all that matters is they have a character with trust issues which stem from their species.
That is a perfectly fine story to tell, and one that can be well served with maintaining secrecy. Ideally, that kind of reveal would be one with some emotional weight - the feeling of fellowship when you open up to the other characters, some kind of stressful situation forcing your hand resulting in the character revealing something they’re ashamed of, etc. Those are the exact moments where keeping secrets from the other players have their most impact—then the emotional element hits at the player level, instead of just the character level, which, in turn, allows the players to draw on those emotions and create more realistic character reactions.
Having read it, I’d say, it was fun for everyone involved. What other reason could they need?
Yeah, as someone who both DMed and played with secret changelings, it was fun both times?
Game improved: added extra plotlines, added mystery ("Why does [changeling PC] know so much about [NPC]"), NPC's in the know were able to blackmail [changling PC] leading to interesting developments
Who had a better experience: the Player obviously. They got to play how they want, and had to do a lot of improv to keep up the lie (which they enjoyed doing). The DM (in one case, me) had a lot to work with involving twists and challenges for them to keep up their disguise. Other players were shocked when they slowly put the pieces together. Even though this happened twice with the same group, it was still a surprise since each changeling PC played their role differently.
Dnd is not a soap opera: firstly, says who? you? it could be, why not? Second, characters having secrets is hardly new, or hardly "soapy"
It's up to you, personally i wouldn't tell the other players you are not a half-elf but a changeling until their characters find out eventually, if ever. Depending on the reasons for his cover, he might never reveal it too.
If a player asked me about this I would be asking the blunt question.
Me: What's your plan for when the secret is out?
Player: What do you mean?
Me: What's your plan for when half a dozen of your friends all look at you and go, "You've been lying to us this whole time?"
I've seen this end a friendship. One player kept a secret (admitedly a pretty big one, involving betrayal and failure of a quest) and another player instantly ended the friendship because they'd been lied to.
Personally, I don't think there should be secrets between players. Betweek characters, sure, but not players. As a group of players we should be conspiring against our characters. :-)
To be honest, if you're going to end a friendship over someone misleading you as to what race they're playing in D&D...then that friendship was in seriously dire straits long before that campaign started and wasn't going to go anywhere good regardless.
So long as PvP is avoided (or consent for it acquired), then most rational parties will be fine with it being kept secret. It's just a matter of what you feel would be most beneficial.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.